Media News

Morning Media Newsfeed 11.16.12

General Petraeus Talks About Affair to HLN (TVNewser) Former CIA director general David Petraeus has not given any interviews since resigning last week, but that isn't to say he hasn't been talking. Petraeus apparently has had multiple conversations with HLN anchor Kyra Phillips since resigning. HuffPost HLN -- CNN's crime-focused sister station -- is not normally the place one would turn to for scoops about high-ranking government officials. But Phillips, who moved to HLN from CNN earlier this year, explained to the network's Robin Meade that she had cultivated the kind of close ties to Petraeus over the years -- including holding a 30-minute live interview with him and introducing him at various military-themed events -- that have given some in the media pause in the wake of his affair. CNN "In our first conversation," Phillips said Thursday, Petraeus "had told me he had engaged in something dishonorable. He sought to do the honorable thing in response -- and that was to come forward. He was very clear that he screwed up terribly... even felt fortunate to have a wife who is far better than he deserves." NBC News In a series of interviews with Phillips, Petraeus also said his resignation as CIA director was not tied to his upcoming testimony on the attack in Benghazi that killed four Americans. Politico Petraeus also told Phillips he didn't leak any classified documents to Paula Broadwell, his ex-mistress who allegedly became the subject of an FBI probe when threatening emails, sent to a friend of Petraeus', were traced back to her. Mediaite On a more personal note, Phillips added, "As long as I have known him, he has never wavered on classified information, ever, to the best of my knowledge." "And I also have never known him to tell me something that is not true," she said.

The New Propaganda: Armies Take War to Twitter in Gaza Conflict (NBC News / Technology) As Israeli and Palestinian forces clash in Gaza this week, those same armies are engaging in a real-time battle of hashtags and twitpics, trying to win the hearts and minds of watchers around the globe. Reuters This week the worldwide audience got a vivid look at conflict in the social media era as the Israeli military unfurled an extensive campaign across several Internet channels after conducting an air strike that killed a top Hamas military commander in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Washington Post / AP Shortly after it launched its campaign Wednesday by killing Hamas' top military commander Ahmed Jabari, the Israeli military's media office announced a "widespread campaign on terror sites & operatives in the (hash)Gaza Strip" on its Twitter account. It then posted a 10-second black-and-white video of the airstrike on its official YouTube page. Google Inc., which owns YouTube, removed the video for a time early Thursday, but reconsidered and restored it. RT Even before Israel's attack on Gaza, the IDF began liveblogging the rocket attacks from Gaza on southern Israel. Gizmodo BuzzFeed dug up a big batch of artfully-filtered wartime Instagram snaps from the IDF, documenting a generally gung ho, smiling mood among the grunts. The hashtag has never seemed so grotesquely out of place. And yet. #idf #israel #army #soldier #life #like #girl #girls

Variety Editors, Reporters Dodge First Round of Penske Layoffs (FishbowlLA) The timing -- right before Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday season -- is tough for all involved. But per an internal message circulated Thursday by Jay Penske, it's the official ground-level beginning of a new era at trade publication Variety. And perhaps not the last of such cost-cutting measures. Deadline Hollywood The total number of this first round of layoffs is 20-25 people -- none in editorial, we're hearing. According to a memo going out to Variety staff, it's part of new owner Penske's broader plan that will include "substantial further investment in editorial and digital." LA Times / Company Town The layoffs represent about 12 percent of Variety's 165-person staff and come from departments including circulation, administration, conference planning, and the industry directories "LA411" and "NY411." No reporters or editors are losing their jobs. THR Penske said in his announcement that he has been reviewing how Variety does business for the past six months, which is long before the Oct. 9 announcement that he was purchasing the venerable Hollywood trade publication.

It's Official: Facebook Apps Have a Share Button (AllFacebook) Users asked for it, and Facebook responded. The social network announced Thursday that its native applications for iOS and Android devices now include a share button. Engadget That means that folks using either app can now pass on their witty musings and puppy pictures to all of their online friends with a simple tap in their news feeds. TechCrunch Facebook's iOS users have long been able to tag friends in posts, but had to append them to the end of the update as "with [Drew Olanoff]." That made for some funky grammar, or redundancy if you needed to refer to a specific friend in the text of your update. Now you can tag friends in-line so your prose flows. LA Times / Tech Now Additionally, Apple device users can now send each other Facebook messages with smileys and other icons from the emoji keyboard. The keyboard can be enabled in the iOS Settings app.

Luke Russert: 'Underqualified Dip' or 'Nervy'? (FishbowlDC) Like many outlets, Politico wrote up the age dust-up between NBC's Luke Russert and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi from a Wednesday morning press briefing. Luke wondered if the 70 plussers in the Democratic leadership are holding back a more youthful party. Nancy, none too pleased, attempted to scold him like a child. In the end, she entertained his question. Washington Post / On Leadership But amid all the hissing and laughter from the gallery, it's worth asking: Is age ever a legitimate question? Do we not ask the same question of men? And when is it appropriate for older leaders to step aside to make way for the next generation? LA Times / Opinion L.A. Pelosi shouldn't have been surprised that a reporter who is defined by his youth would ask her about her age. But maybe she expected better treatment because of what she and Russert have in common: the role of family connections in their career paths.

Twitter Takes New Steps to Be Even More Like Instagram (CNET) With a flurry of new features unveiled Thursday, Twitter appears to be aiming more than ever at mimicking some of the most visual elements of Instagram and Facebook. Mashable Now you can preview article summaries and photos in both Search and Discover without tapping on those stories in order to do so. SlashGear If you're an avid Twitter user who comes across something that you would like to share with a friend who isn't on Twitter, you can now do that with email sharing. Twitter announced the availability of email sharing Thursday. Before this feature, one of the only ways to share a tweet with someone not on the service was to take a screen shot and email that or post it to another service such as Facebook.

Will Bourne Named New Editor-in-Chief of The Village Voice(FishbowlNY) Will Bourne has been named the editor-in-chief of The Village Voice. He replaces Tony Ortega, who left the paper in September. Capital New York Will Bourne doesn't begin his new job as editor-in-chief of The Village Voice until Nov. 26. But he's already getting high marks from some staffers. "He's very cool," said Michael Musto, who's pretty much the only old-timer left at the alt-weekly, when Capital reached him by phone for a brief comment. Village Voice / Runnin' Scared Bourne is a veteran writer and editor who got his start writing for Seven Days, a weekly NYC magazine (now dead) owned by Leonard Stern, who also owned the Voice at the time. He has served as the editor-at-large for Inc. since July. Prior to that, he spent almost five years as the editor of Fast Company, during which the magazine won both a George Polk Award and a Cunningham Award in 2009.

Two More Books Coming from Gone Girl Author (Yahoo! News / AP)Gone Girl novelist Gillian Flynn is sticking around. The million-selling author has agreed to write two more books for Random House Inc. The publisher announced Thursday that she will write a novel and a young adult novel. The books currently are untitled and publication dates have not been set. Publishers Weekly Flynn has already published three novels with Crown -- before Gone Girl was Sharp Objects and Dark Places -- and has another under contract, which is scheduled for 2015. Molly Stern, senior vice president and publisher of Crown, inked the world rights adult deal with agent Stephanie Kip Rostan at Levine Greenberg Literary. Lindsay Sagnette, a senior editor at Crown, will be editing the novel.

Roger Ailes on Election Night: 'Rove Was Wrong. He Backed Down. Our Guys Were Right.' (TVNewser) On election night, Fox News co-founder and chairman Roger Ailes watched election coverage in the News Corp. sports suite, down the hall from his second floor office. When he saw how things were going, a likely re-election for President Obama, he decided to call it a night. "It only took 15 minutes to get home," Ailes told TVNewser in a lengthy interview in his office Thursday. "I turn on the TV and the first thing I see is Rove saying something like 'you called Ohio too early.' And I thought, 'What the? What is this?'"

Facebook Adds a Grab Bag of Gift Partners (Mashable) As a part of a greater push into e-commerce, Facebook announced a whole slew of retail partnerships Thursday night at a press event held at the iconic FAO Schwarz toy store in New York City.

Decision 2012: Who Mapped It Best? (CJR / Between the Spreadsheets) As CJR's Meta Newsroom showed, a glut of media outlets incorporated digital innovation into their reporting during the recent election. One resurfaced over and again: the map. For the outlets just dipping their toes into the data journalism sea, maps presented a relatively easy opportunity to make interactive. For the heavyweights, it was a chance to wade in much deeper.

Tablets May Fuel Print Magazine Market, Report Says (10,000 Words) A report released earlier this week by the United Kingdom's Professional Publishers Association (PPA) reveals that tablet users are engaging with digital magazines. No surprise, right? What is interesting about this report, though, is that the PPA also notes that there appears to be a "positive correlation between print and tablet readership." In fact, according to the report, 96 percent of tablet owners have read a printed magazine in the last year, compared to the 80 percent national average.